Alice Brown (ombudsman)

Alice Brown CBE FRSE AcSS (born 30 September 1946) is a Scottish academic who is Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of Edinburgh and Chancellor of the University of Abertay as of 2019. She was on the consultative steering group that advised on procedural aspects when the new Scottish Parliament was being set up. Her work included promoting the equal representation of women. She was the first Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, serving for two terms between 2002 and 2009, and was a member of the Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council 2008–2012. She was a member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life 1998–2003 and was elected as the first female General Secretary of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) 2011–2013. She has been chair of the Scottish Funding Council since 2013.

Alice Brown

CBE FRSE AcSS
Born (1946-09-30) 30 September 1946
United Kingdom
NationalityScottish
TitleScottish Public Services Ombudsman
Academic background
EducationStevenson College
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh
Academic work
InstitutionsUniversity of Edinburgh

Early life

Brown left school at age 15 to work for a small insurance company, later returning to Stevenson College to get her Higher examinations through evening classes.[1] In 1983, at age of 37, she graduated from the University of Edinburgh with first-class honours in economics and politics.[2]

Academic career

In 1984 Brown took a temporary academic position at the University of Stirling, lecturing in Economics. The following year she began working for the University of Edinburgh as a lecturer.[3]:60[4] With some funding from the Economic and Social Research Council she studied the work of Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) and went on to complete a PhD with her research.[3]:62–63[1] She was promoted to the head of the Politics department in 1995 and then was given a personal chair in Politics in 1997.[1] She became Vice-Principal of the University in 1999.

Scottish Parliament

After the Scottish electorate voted for a parliament in the devolution referendum in September 1997, a group was set up the following month that was tasked with drawing up detailed proposals for the standing orders to be used in the new Scottish Parliament.[5] Brown was a member of this consultative steering group which reported to the Secretary of State for Scotland, Donald Dewar, in December 1998.[6]

In 1998 Brown became involved with the governance of Scotland forum.[7][8] The Institute of Governance at the University of Edinburgh was established in 1999 with Brown as a founding Co-Director.[9] She was also part of Labour's panel to vet their prospective candidates for the 1999 Scottish Parliament election.[10] Brown was known for being a champion of gender equality, and her work contributed towards a better gender balance in the 1st Scottish Parliament.[11]

She was a member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, first appointed on 1 November 1998 and reappointed on 1 November 2001.[12]

Ombudsman

In 2002, the parliament made preparations to replace a confusing system of several ombudsman offices which had been in operation since before the new parliament was set up.[11] The changes were to allow a convenient way for members of the public to make complaints about a range of organisations providing public services. After some debate about whether the title of the person leading the service should be gender-neutral,[11] the new legislation created the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.[13] In June 2002 a cross-party selection panel nominated Brown to lead this service, with Presiding Officer David Steel having the casting vote.[14] Parliament then approved the nomination.[4][13][15] Brown's appointment was then made by the Queen on 30 September 2002, taking up all her functions and powers from 23 October 2002. As the ombudsman, she was assisted by three part-time deputy ombudsmen and 38 members of staff.[16] On taking up the ombudsman post she stepped down from her university position and from the Committee on Standards in Public Life.[3]:61[12] After serving a first term of five years, the Scottish Parliament approved the nomination for her to be reappointed in March 2007.[16] Her second term of office lasted two years, and she was succeeded by Jim Martin who took office in 1 May 2009.[17]

She was appointed to the Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council for a four-year period from 1 December 2008.[18] She led the team that wrote Right First Time, a report that was published in June 2011, advising that the decision-making processes used by public bodies generally needed to improve.[19]

Other appointments

In 2011 she was elected the first female General Secretary of the RSE.[20] a position she resigned in October 2013[21] on her appointment as chair of the Scottish Funding Council.[22] In 2019 she was appointed the first female chancellor of Abertay University.[23]

Awards and honours

In 2002, she became an Academician, later known as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.[24] She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) in 2002.[25] The University of Edinburgh made her an Emeritus Professor in 2008.[3]:64 In 2009 she was chosen to receive a Special Recognition Award by the Political Studies Association.[26]

She was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours for public service.[27]

She has been bestowed with honorary degrees from the University of Edinburgh in 2010,[28] Edinburgh Napier University in 2009,[29] the University of Stirling in 2004,[30] Glasgow Caledonian University in 2012[31] and the University of Aberdeen in 2016.[32]

References
  1. "Helping others to cross the square". Times Higher Education. 27 September 2002. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  2. "We are the 51: Professor Alice Brown CBE". www.the3rdimagazine.co.uk. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  3. Raab, Charles D. (2012). "Fifty Years and More: The Department of Politics at the University of Edinburgh" (PDF). University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  4. "Professor gets watchdog job". Times Higher Education. 5 July 2002. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  5. "Report of the Consultative Steering Group on the Scottish Parliament. 'Shaping Scotland's Parliament'" (PDF). Scottish Office. December 1998. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  6. Quigley, Elizabeth (7 June 2001). "Business as usual?". BBC News.
  7. "More public say in Scots politics". Times Higher Education. 16 October 1998. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  8. "Scots expect shift to independence". Times Higher Education. 20 November 1998. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  9. "About the IoG: 1999–2014". www.institute-of-governance.ed.ac.uk. University of Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 9 January 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  10. "In the grip of the Party". The Scotsman. 21 April 2002. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  11. MacMahon, Peter (19 August 2005). "Superwoman in a 'man's' world". The Scotsman. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  12. Annual Report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life. November 2002 – December 2003 (PDF) (Report). Committee on Standards in Public Life. February 2004. p. 27.
  13. "Professor wins public sector watchdog post". The Scotsman. 27 June 2002. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  14. "Protocol dictates that casting vote preserves the status quo". 29 January 2009. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  15. Ritchie, Murray (14 December 2004). "She's at the end of your tether". The Herald. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  16. "Public services ombudsman reappointed". The Scotsman. 30 March 2007. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  17. "New Ombudsman takes office" (Press release). Scottish Public Services Ombudsman. 3 April 2009. Archived from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  18. "Appointment of members to the Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council" (Press release). Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council. 11 December 2008. Archived from the original on 12 March 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  19. Thomas, Richard (15 June 2011). "Public bodies fail to grasp the true cost of their mistakes". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  20. "New RSE President and General Secretary take Office" (PDF) (Press release). Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE). 3 October 2011. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  21. "New RSE General Secretary and Council take Office" (PDF) (Press release). Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE). 7 October 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  22. "Professor takes Scottish Funding Council role". Edinburgh Evening News. 7 October 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  23. "The Courier". DC Thomson. 29 June 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  24. "New Academians 2002" (PDF). The Bulletin. Academy of Social Sciences (4): 4. November 2002. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  25. "Fellows: Professor Alice Brown CBE FRSE". Royal Society of Edinburgh. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  26. "Political Studies Association Awards 2009" (PDF). Political Studies Association. 24 November 2009. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  27. "CBE for Bowen in New Year Honours". The Journal. Law Society of Scotland. 31 December 2009. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  28. "Annual Review 2009/10: Honorary graduates". University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  29. "Alumni: Honorary graduates". Edinburgh Napier University. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  30. "Honorary graduates: Archive: 1998–2007". University of Stirling. Archived from the original on 9 January 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  31. "More than 1500 graduates celebrate with leading citizens" (Press release). Glasgow Caledonian University. 28 November 2012. Archived from the original on 9 January 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  32. "Honorary Graduates : Graduates 2016 : Summer Graduates". University of Aberdeen. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
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